


the tethers of this scene

by brandywine421



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:02:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23503558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandywine421/pseuds/brandywine421
Summary: "So, what are we doing here again?" Steve whispered to Clint."I'm going to kidnap a patient they're holding in their clinic," Natasha stated, shifting the van into park.  "I need you to carry him, he's busted all to hell.""This is an orphanage, is it, like a kid?" Clint asked after a beat."No - ""I won't help you attack nuns, I mean, I know I'm not apracticingCatholic at the moment but this is a little far for me," Steve interrupted.She inhaled through her nose and didn't clench her fists but both men flinched anyway.  "I'm not attacking anyone but they're going to let me take him."
Relationships: Matt Murdock/Natasha Romanov
Comments: 35
Kudos: 167





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> <3

* * *

_I want to take you far_  
_from the cynics in this town  
_ _and kiss you on the mouth  
  
_ _We'll cut our bodies free  
from the tethers of this scene  
  
_ _Start a brand new colony  
_ _Where everything will change,  
we'll give ourselves new names_

* * *

Clint heard about the explosion at Midland Circle before she did. She was enjoying the down time and painting her nails with a backdrop of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives while Matt was choking to death on ash and debris.

She didn't have a lot of friends, that wasn't new, but she had more than she used to with the Avengers making her open her mind to life outside of a government agency.

But there was Matt.

She could've had him, if she'd followed the company line and dumped her meticulously collected blackmail in front of him to get his signature on a contract when she first met him. She could - but she didn't.

There was something about Matt that made her reject the final mission and bury the file. Matt was different. 

Not that Clint knew anything about Matt when he mentioned the explosion in passing, a quick dropped line about the MIA vigilante.

There was more to Matt than Daredevil and none of it belonged lost under rubble.  
  


* * *

  
"So, what are we doing here again?" Steve whispered to Clint.

"No idea, but I think it's important."

"I'm going to kidnap a patient they're holding in their clinic," Natasha stated, shifting the van into park. "I need you to carry him, he's busted all to hell."

"This is an orphanage, is it, like a kid?" Clint asked after a beat.

"No - "

"I won't help you attack nuns, I mean, I know I'm not a _practicing_ Catholic at the moment but this is a little far for me," Steve interrupted.

She inhaled through her nose and didn't clench her fists but both men flinched anyway. "I'm not attacking anyone but they're going to let me take him. I'm going to be very convincing."

Clint opened his mouth but closed it with a snap of his fingers. "I get it."

"Really?" Steve whispered.

Clint scrambled out of the van and yanked Cap onto the sidewalk. "It's important to her. Daredevil's always been her catch."

"Oh. Shit, I saw that on the news - " Steve's eyes locked on her and they were one of his superpowers and she had to meet them. 

"Please. He's my friend."

"Clear the perimeter and meet us inside," Steve told Clint, cocking his head toward the back entrance. "Never thought I'd have to play muscle for you against this kind of enemy, Nat, but you know I'm on your six."  
  


* * *

  
Father Lantom was a reasonable man, priest, whatever and he seemed to believe she was a friend over foe even if she couldn't prove it. Reasonable.

The nuns weren't a problem with her visible weapons and Steve's towering beard behind her - until they reached the makeshift surgical - _fuck fuck fuck_ \- room and 'The Little Sister That Could' decided to block her way.

"Excuse you, we're here to take the patient - "

"Under what authority? Do you have a warrant - he needs medical attention - "

She moved both hands to her belt, if not her holsters, just the belt for now. " **Move**." The woman raised her chin with a flare of familiar rage. 

"He's my son," the Sister said. She felt Steve flinch behind her but mothers meant fuck-all to her.

"And you've had twenty odd years to tell him, not my problem that you put it off until it was life or death," she replied, walking around her to reach Matt's bedside.

 **Goddamn** he looked bad.

She took his barely bandaged fingers when he reached out and he shuddered in pain, mouthing the dead woman's name. _Elektra_. The woman he'd decided to die for even though nobody fucking asked him to.

She murmured in Russian that she would take care of him and he shook his head sharply, not enough for a seizure but a definite reaction, his fingers twitching in hers. " _Natalia_?"

Father Lantom sighed heavily, drying his hands on a towel. "Will you call - "

"No," she snapped.

"I'll let you know," Cap said, giving her a look she didn't want to interpret. "You'll be the first to know his condition."

"Go start the van, Nat, we got this. You need to check on the rest of the arrangements anyway," Clint said, trading places with her and giving the nuns a genial grin and showing off his gloved hands.   
  


* * *

"Are you sure about this, Nat? He's in pretty bad shape, no shape to give consent for the Cradle," Bruce whispered when she'd scared off everyone except her hand-picked medical staff.

"I'll handle it when he's not literally spilling his guts all over the van," she replied, ignoring the look he sent to Clint and Steve.

"We'll fake the paperwork later, he needs help now," Steve said. "The Sisters didn't have a chance to drug him - "

"He doesn't react well to meds, that's why it has to be the Cradle first - if his hearing's down, he's going to be combative - " Natasha said, needing everything to happen faster so she could lock herself in a closet and turn off her game face for maybe, five seconds, in case she was showing all the emotions.

"Why?" Bruce asked with a short nod as he loaded the rumpled med sheet into the tablet. "And what sisters?"

"He's blind, since he was young, right? I remember this kid, talk about keeping it under your hat," Clint answered and she knew she'd failed at all the emotions. "One of your first assignments, law student with a bad attitude."

"Now he's a lawyer with connections to ninja death cults - what's the hold up here? Brought what you asked for, Cap," Tony announced, dropping some sort of bracelet into Steve's extended hand.

"How do you know?" she demanded, watching Matt clutch the bracelet - no, rosary, she should've thought of that.

"JARVIS sent it to your server but he's all over the local news - not to mention all the connections those ninjas had in the business world that are popping off all over. Pepper's got questions," Tony said, name-dropping to drive home the seriousness.

Shit, she was so hyper-focused on getting the save that she forgot about the battle that had taken him down.

Clint poked her in the side and it hurt, but jolted her out of the moment. "Go talk to him through the window so he doesn't freak out before we get some blood in him."  
  


* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title and chap tag belong to 'The Postal Service'.


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

  
_If you miss me - don't_   
_If I never wanna see you again - I won't_

_If you get an invitation_   
_I'm probably drunk_

_You're just as hot as radiation_   
_But I'm in this situation_

* * *

  
"I gotta ask, have you even seen the guy since you failed to recruit him years ago?" Clint whispered when Bruce had finally banned her from the med bay to keep from Hulking out all over the SHIELD-sponsored tech.

She watched through the window, wondering if his ears were tuned in or still ringing from the crash and the fury of the equipment.

He'd seized like the Cradle was his personal hellscape, screaming without a sound and breaking his wrists against the straps before the nanobots finished their initial scan.

"Nat."

"Couple of times. Off the books," she lied.

He knew her too well but Bucky raised an eyebrow behind him. Damn, she was off her game if he could tell.

"He's not screaming your name," Clint pushed.

"He doesn't know my name." He didn't buy it. "She was his first. Guess he was mine. Fuck you, not talking about sex," Natasha snarled at Bucky who held up both hands in silent deference.

"First love, goddamn. You never said - "

"It's mine to have," she said. "I can have things to myself."

"What kind of shit is he in?" Bucky asked, offering a subject change she didn't deserve according to Clint's disappointed sigh.

"Elektra died, months ago. Evil mystics ressurected her, used her to kill a lot of people. She was his first. His forever - but their timing was always off."

"And you think your timing's on?" Clint asked.

"I don't have to explain myself to you, I just have to explain myself to him," she said, sinking into a seat.

He sighed again and she glared.

"Help me save him, Clint. Please. I didn't bring him in the first time because I knew he was meant for something more - not just to die for that - "

"Don't speak ill of the dead," Bucky interrupted.

"He's a good man with a head full of monsters but he helps people, he follows the law until it fails and he's - "

Clint grasped both her hands and kissed her knuckles. "He's yours. I get it. What's your plan?"

"If you go to Nebraska - I want you to be able to go to Nebraska," she said. "I can keep him close and covered until his real life clears up or he takes a deal - and you can - "

"I'm not moving to Nebraska, babe, stop siding with the ex - this is about you."

Bucky leaned forward. "Sounds like it's about all of us. Tell us why you think Daredevil deserves a spot on the squad - "

"Without bringing up how his ass looks in that suit, he passes that part of the test," Tony said, standing in the open door of the room. "By the way - "

Matt was awake - aware - when she got to his side on the clean gurney, all the blood and vomit and bile washed away while she wasn't looking.

"You're in Avenger's Tower, I stole you from St. Agnes and made them fix you," Natasha said.

"Fix," he repeated blankly.

She glanced at Bruce who showed no signs of green, but too much pity for her raw nerves. "Is he stable? Can I have - "

"Ten minutes," he conceded with a nod.

Matt shifted when the door sealed behind him. "Black Widow. Natasha. Not Natalia. I - had an idea."

"No you didn't, you always knew," she challenged. "Somewhere - "

"Would've never called you on it. So."

"So."

"Why did you come for me?"

She slid her finger down his jaw and across his dry lips, watching his nostrils flare as he inhaled her scent. "I didn't want to lose you. Not if there was a chance - a second chance, maybe a third or fourth - "

He smiled, or tried to through his thick exhaustion. 

"You're important to me, no matter how uncomfortable that makes both of us - it's the truth."

"I didn't know," he admitted. _Liar_.

"I didn't either until you were dead." _Liar_.

"I won't thank you. I don't know if I'm - what if I was better off under that building? What if I was meant to die with her?"

She hummed and decided to go with honesty. "I don't give a fuck. You're alive which means I did my part - rest is up to you."

"Nat."

"Like you ever follow up on the people Daredevil saves," she said. "This is me - following up. Let me fake your death and show you the world."

He sat up and she let go of his hand to push him back down, appreciating the pound of his heart beneath her hands and under his words. "Nat. Why do you want me on your team?" So he could hear through walls again, atta boy.

"Because I think you'll fit. Because I think you need a break from being a real boy. Because I want to hang out with you while you're pretending to be a fake boy. I dig the horns, you know."

She wasn't going to tell him what he needed to hear and he finally seemed to get it.

"I'll think about it."

Oh, she'd make sure of that.

* * *

Fury didn't bother calling her down to HQ, he ambushed her in the apartment when she'd finally left Matt unattended under Steve and Bruce's watch downstairs.

Maria followed him like the trained puppy she played at HQ, dangling a flash drive with a Daredevil sticker on the side.

"He's mine. Maria. Mine," Natasha stated, catching and locking the woman's gaze.

"I don't need the two of you to restart the staring contest of '08," Fury warned.

"Mine," she repeated.

Maria didn't move. "If you weren't so confrontational, the boss would have already told you I cleared it years ago."

She blinked. "What?"

"How many people have you named in your file, Natasha?" Fury sighed.

"None."

"One," Maria corrected. "This dude. And then today, like an ungrateful brat, you gave the Director the alert, not me - I wouldn't have flagged it because it's old news."

She blinked.

"Chicks before dicks. That's how it goes, right?" Fury asked Maria when she glared at him.

"No. Not at all. Decide how you want to file him since you put him on the radar - contracter with no ties to you, classified contact that's yours alone - "

"Just fix his cover or build him a new one, I don't want to hear about it again. Barton's my problem child, not you - don't make this a habit," Fury growled.

"Sir," she nodded. She might need to recalculate her thoughts on Maria.

"And bring him to the barbecue next month. Want to throw some knives at him and see if Clint's full of shit or not," Maria added.

"Absolutely not."

"Absolutely yes," Fury grinned, flashing teeth and she knew better than to argue. "Now, get out of my office."

She frowned until he remembered he was in her house.

Maria snickered, recovered and waited for Fury to swirl his jacket before following him out of her apartment.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lyric tag - Gavin DeGraw


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

  
_I tried to be someone,_   
_I lied to be someone else for you._   
_If I had done something,  
_ _a little bit differently,_   
_We would've moved  
in a better direction than this, baby_

* * *

"How's your friend?" Bruce asked when she sat down beside him in the lounge on the Avengers' Floor. 

"I don't know," she said, ignoring Clint and Steve's instant shifts of surprise from the kitchen bar. "He made me call his priest, JARVIS is making sure he doesn't leave."

"Um. Is he a prisoner?"

She sighed. Bruce was just being nice, he didn't know the whole story - hell, she didn't even know everything yet. "His identity leaked, but not to the good guys - if he goes home and acts like normal, it'll only be a matter of time before they take him out."

"Do you know how it got out? Can you contain it?" Bruce asked, thoughtful.

"How does a blind guy get mixed up with ninjas anyway?" Clint spoke up.

"Tried to recruit him when he was a kid, his whole super-senses pinged their interest before we knew he existed - but he said no, then they sent Elektra for him, couple of years before SHIELD sent me and he still, didn't cave, not even for her."

"So, he was trained by evil ninjas but he uses his skills to fight crime instead? Seems sensible," Bruce considered.

"Fights the evil ninjas, too, for killing his girl. _What_ , I pay attention," Clint said when she glanced at him.

"He's solo and right now, that's not safe. Not to mention if the bad guys know his name, it's only a matter of time before the cops and Feds figure it out, too - I need him to stay until I figure this out."

Steve hummed. "How * **did** * his identity get out, was it those other super-folks that helped him blow up the building?"

" _Elektra_. When they worked their mojo and brought her back, she followed orders for a while, then decided she wanted to give the orders. Waited until she got all the leaders in a room, dropped Matt's name and took over."

"Did they find her body?" Clint asked.

"No, another reason I don't want to let him out of my sight for a while. She's a wild card, just because she remembered him long enough to manipulate her makers doesn't mean she's safe - or sane."

"Wow," Matt's voice surprised her but it shouldn't - he was a sneaky bastard.

He looked like hell and she regretted letting him see the fucking priest. She wondered how long he'd been close enough to listen. "JARVIS send you up?"

"I walked Father Lantom out, didn't mean to interrupt your briefing," he said when she reached his side.

"Not a briefing, just filling them in on what kind of shit you're in," she said.

"Elektra's not their business."

"If she comes for you - "

"She won't."

Huh. "How can you be sure of that if you don't remember what happened?"

He didn't answer right away, hesitating and rolling his jaw. "She knew me. She - "

Natasha squeezed his bruised knuckles in her fist, not lacing their fingers but just holding his hands the way she couldn't hold him. "She leaked your identity to the entire evil ninja syndicate proving it. She tried to take you down with her, Matt - "

He shook his head but it trickled into a whole body shiver. "It wasn't like that - "

"You weren't over losing her the first time before she turned up wrong - "

"I couldn't let her die alone - "

"Didn't matter the first time, did it?"

"Fuck you." He snatched his hands away, twisting out of her reach.

"You think you'd be reunited with her in heaven? That she'd make it to the same place - or that your all-forgiving God would ignore all the fucking chances you had to get out of there?"

"Should we leave?" Bruce whispered from the couch.

Matt huffed out a laugh, only slightly hysterical and caught her arm. "No, please, I know there's coffee nearby but I'm halfway through a breakdown and I really don't want to ask the guy in the walls." She tucked her arm around him and was relieved he had wound down enough to accept the support.

"Your priest didn't want to drag you outta here?" Clint asked, pushing a mug of coffee over to him once she got him to the counter.

"He seems to think Natasha owes one of the Sisters an apology, but other than that he said - playing dead might be my best bet if the Hand knows my name," Matt sighed, wrapping his hands around the mug. "He's upset about something, wouldn't tell me."

"I'll tell you, it's because I yelled at the nun," she said.

He took a thoughtful sip of the black coffee. "I think I liked it better when you lied to me."

* * *

She gave it a couple of days, almost a week but Matt seemed to shrink like a starving houseplant the longer he was away from Hell's Kitchen. She couldn't get him to spar with her, or talk to her, or - hell. She didn't know what to do.

He wasn't in his room today and JARVIS directed her upstairs so perhaps today would be different. Clint, Tony and Bruce were all seated at the dining table and turned to her expectantly.

"Where - "

"He's in the gym, have a seat," Clint said, pulling out a chair.

"What is this, an intervention?" she asked but from Bruce and Tony's lack of reaction - she realized it *was* an intervention. "Seriously?"

"You gotta give the new kid some space," Tony sighed. "I know you're all excited about having a playmate but - "

"If I were a medical doctor, I'd recommend putting him on 5150 psych hold," Bruce interrupted, meeting her gaze directly. "But under the circumstances, I agree with the guys. Plus, you're a little, fixated."

 _Lies_. "How are you defining 'space'? I can barely get him to talk to me - "

"Because you're smothering him," Tony said. He held up his hands in defense of her look. "Listen, I've taken a lot of rides on the train he's on - my default setting is self-destruct and it's a helluva trip. He knows you're here for him, but he also knows you're watching him for cracks so he has to be on his best behavior."

She didn't think she was hovering. She crossed her arms. "He hangs out with you guys all the time."

"And you're always there, or you find him," Clint pointed out. "God forbid the guy have a moment to cry in the corner without his ex coming to check on him."

"He was crying?" she asked, but - dammit, proved his point.

"Steve and Bucky, they like the kid a lot," Bruce said. "This meeting was their idea."

 _Traitors_.

"The church stuff is a big deal for Murdock and sometimes you treat it like it's trivial," Clint sighed. "Says you give him a look every time he brings it up even if I've never seen it - "

"I don't look at him, but I do fucking notice. I can't just turn off my observation skills. He twitches with his pocket," she said. 

"He carries that rosary Steve gave him before the Cradle," Tony said. "Cheap thing Cap had stuffed in his junk drawer turns out to be his talisman - not really what anybody expected when you brought the Devil home but we all have our crutches."

"He accepts the stakes, Nat, he's staying and he hasn't made a break for it yet," Clint said softly. "He's loyal as hell to you and he'd probably never speak to us again if he found out about this conversation but, maybe let him off the leash for a bit and see what happens."

* * *

She didn't say anything when he missed lunch and she found him asleep on Bucky's metal arm in the lounge, the assassin snoring aggressively in protest of Day Four of Steve's 'America's Top Model' binge. Steve complimented her on her runway walk via text after she made her swift escape.

She didn't say anything when she found him meditating under Bruce's desk, or on top of one of Tony's workbenches. Her apartment gained three new houseplants and a growing collection of snitched tools for her weapons drawer.

She definitely didn't say anything when she caught him antagonizing Agent Hill in the common area and dodging her questions like a professional.

She never managed to catch him with Clint but she assumed the hangovers were his work. She'd been the subject of his 'bonding' attempts before.

Natasha would never admit that her teammates had been right but - fuck it, she would have to buy the next post-mission dinner since Matt found his way back to her after a few days of loosened surveillance.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey. You busy?"

"Depends on how drunk you are," she replied, but he didn't deny it and she didn't pull away when he slid his fingers down her shoulders to her elbows and settled on her waist so he could lean in close. 

"Gotta talk to you."

She didn't know if was voluntary or if he'd been pushed but she didn't think the guys would go that far. 

"Don't know how to explain it, but - need to try." Matt said, leaning his head on her shoulder. "And I'm drunk. Officially too drunk to drive."

"Noted," she smiled.

"Sometimes I hear people that aren't there," he whispered, voice heavy with rum.

"You hear everything."

He shifted his weight and turned his face into her shoulder, muffling his words into her skin. "Not real. It's - I'm trying to handle it. Fisk, my father, Stick - "

Oh. "What do you need?"

"Gotta find a new center. Used to have Foggy, but - been spinning for a while, Nat. Finally came down, I guess, just - gotta get up, crawl 'til I can walk again, bite 'til I can kick - hide 'til I can win - "

She put both hands on his neck, letting her fingers tangle in the unkempt hair at the nape, kissing his forehead when he relaxed into her touch and leaned back.

"Don't know who I am without Fogs," he said, lashes thick against his cheek. "Elektra was the only person that ever accepted me both ways - in the mask and out. Then you bring me here." He opened his eyes but she was watching his mouth for his tells. "Bring me here with people that know me by both names, where I don't have to be on alert - focused - all the time."

"What, did you think I'd just dump you in a basement to work it out for yourself?" she asked.

"I know how close you guard your heart, Nat. You opened your home - your real one to me and I'm really trying to claw my way out of this so I can appreciate it. Thank you."

"Can you forgive me for lying to you always?"

He scoffed. "I'm not a hypocrite. I always knew you were lying, but I never doubted your heart."

She had to ask, while his tongue was still loose with liquor. "What about Elektra's?"

He didn't flinch but the stillness was worse. He barely breathed before the words burst out. "Do you know how she died? The first time? She took the hit meant for me - not my first kill, that goes to my Dad, but - I couldn't leave her - "

Goddamn him. She wrapped her arms around him and hummed against his throat. "Throwing away all your hard work over a chick, such a loser," she said finally and he laughed, holding on.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyric tag belongs to The Neighbourhood


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

  
_Back home, off the run_   
_Singing songs that make you slit your wrists_   
_It isn't that much fun,_   
_staring down a loaded gun_

_So I won't stop dying,_   
_won't stop lying_   
_If you want I'll keep on crying_   
_Did you get what you deserve?_   
_Is this what you always want me for?_

* * *

Tony was mystified by Matt and his refusal to use any of his tech, but the rest of the guys were more interested in throwing punches and things at him.

Matt was still being 'iffy' about going on missions without knowing everything in the fine print of every op - which made him Steve's absolute favorite, but it was going to make classifying him a problem if he wouldn't play dress up with them.

She trained with him in the mornings and fighting with him was invigorating - he challenged her like nobody else. He mirrored her, parried her, matched her - and he always had a grin when he tapped out, brightest if he had blood on his teeth.

She flopped off him today, letting herself go limp with an arm across his battered ribs and her legs lazily splayed over his thighs.

"I've got some kinks to work out with Stark and his toys, wall-guy says he can set up some decibel sensitivity thing to explain it better," Matt said. "But I'm good with selective missions - "

She studied him from her sprawl. "Yeah? What kind of selective?"

He didn't answer and she heard the buzz of the gym's door unlocking. Maria, of fucking course.

"I need to steer clear of explosions and gun-heavy battles in unfamiliar terrain so local jobs are preferable to start," Matt answered, not surprised the assistant director was here.

Maria stood over them, tapping into her tablet. "I'll approve the partnering for recon missions, non-lethal is checked as a preference," she said. "How are you at undercover?"

"I can fake sight long enough to scam pool and darts for at least three rounds, but that's around a bunch of drunk people and it takes all my concentration," Matt said.

"Blind guys are noticeable but he dresses up nice and never lets me lead when we dance," Natasha said. "He can always find me in a crowd."

"Since we're still reserving full team gigs for world-fucking emergencies, Daredevil will shadow you on solo missions as needed, and work with Clint and Bucky in the city - "

"Ouch, poor Steve getting abandoned," she smiled, elbowing him.

"Cap claimed me for the rest of the state and somehow I got tagged to go to DC to meet with some guy named Sam," Matt admitted. "I don't know how well I'll do on planes but - I want to help if I can - with the requested transparency - "

"Not discussing that, its on the Director's desk," Maria said. "In return, we'll give you resources to continue your work against The Hand - "

Natasha held up her hand but Matt was already shaking his head. "Don't want your resources. You know what I want."

Maria met Natasha's eyes and she didn't know if she should be relieved or worried that her boss was amused.

"I can't leave Hell's Kitchen or my friends unprotected," Matt said quietly. "I want to tell Danny and Jess that I'm still alive and see if they can pick up my slack, make sure Luke and Claire are safe - and get Foggy and Karen to back me at playing dead."

"You trust that new kid enough to hand over the Kitchen?" Maria asked.

"He knows more about the mystical war with the Hand than I ever cared to learn," Matt said quietly. "He's the only one that can take down Elektra if she comes back."

Natasha did not agree but he was allowed an opinion.

"Think about bringing in his girl, too when you submit the request. He was stuck in a magical city for years but she worked for the Hand, knowingly or not, for a lot longer. Nat's your supervisor and since you're her first probie, don't fuck it up."

Oh.

"So I only have to listen to her, right? I can tell Stark to suck it when he tries to boss me around?" Matt asked.

Maria shrugged. "Try to get it on camera, the Director loves watching people tell Stark to fuck off."

"Are you sure?" she asked and immediately winced.

"You know I wouldn't do it if I wasn't sure. I don't trust SHIELD and I don't trust the system that governs it - but I trust you and most of the people I'll be working with, well except Wall-Guy - and like Maria said, I'm on probation."

Maria? "First name basis?"

She passed Natasha her tablet as she shrugged out of her jacket. It was telling that Natasha barely glanced at the itemized contract to stare. "I may have issued a challenge."

Matt grinned. "One that she lost so I get to use her first name."

"So I had to issue another one." Maria glared at Natasha. "Don't get any ideas, Widow, I'm not allowed to spar with active agents under my supervision - but he's not a SHIELD agent. You rested now?"

"Wait, everybody needs to see this - for training purposes," Natasha said, swapping the tablet with Matt's details for her phone to text everyone in the Tower. She knew this was a good idea - Assistant Director Hill being called by her first name at work? 

"No face or nut shots, right?" Matt asked.

Maria scoffed. "We'll see."

"I'm unemployed and wearing a cup so choose carefully," Matt grinned again.

"He doesn't differentiate his styles, but his Muay Thai is rusty," Clint called as he walked in with Barnes.

"Objection, unfair advantage," Matt protested.

* * *

"Grow a beard," she suggested, keeping her back to him as she poured their coffees.

"Yuck."

"Just for a couple of days, so you can see your friends in the wild." She didn't smile but the way his face lit up at the thought warmed her.

"Yeah?"

"You're not a prisoner and you're aware of the stakes if the fake part of your death gets out," she replied. "This is all for nothing if you blow your cover before you build it, but luring all your friends to the Tower might put them on radars that doesn't need them."

He pushed off the stool and crowded her against the fridge in a single stride, kissing her quickly and stepping back, a dare. 

"Ask me," he said.

Ah. "Really?"

"Why change what works? Ask."

She looped her arms loosely around his neck and asked, "So, Probie - are you seeing anyone?"

"Not since - " She kissed him before he finished their shitty call and response with the year he was blinded. It had worked as a cheesy pick up line when she approached him in college, and she'd giggled sweetly and he'd smirked with a flash of teeth, and it had worked as code every time after when they were unattached or 'on a break' from other relationships.

They were both currently on a break from other relationships, she decided, and it wasn't a rebound if they didn't fall in love and fuck it all up.

"Does that mean I get to call you 'Boss'?" he hummed against her mouth.

"Not in the field, but feel free to do it around here."

* * *

"You know what this is all about?" Jess asked Luke, making him jump when she came into the bar from the back door.

"Not so much, but thought said we should make an appearance. You good?" he asked, face open with concern.

She shrugged. "Good enough. You? Your nurse?"

"Good. Keeping our heads down, you know how it is," he admitted. "Buy you a drink? It's on Danny's tab."

"Then absolutely." She scanned the room and it was sparse for a night when games were on, but all the bar screens were tuned to a disaster movie filled with tornadoes and surprise volcanoes - so maybe they were tailoring to the crowd. "Is that Detective Knight?"

She didn't want to admit that she'd forgotten the woman lost an arm in the battle, not quite a life but a helluva sacrifice for someone else's fight.

Claire, Colleen and Misty were huddled around the game machine finding the differences in the naked puzzle and she found Danny sitting with Murdock's blonde in a booth.

"Where's Nelson? Didn't he call this meeting?"

Luke sighed, "That's what we _thought_ but he's outside making a call because he thought Danny invited him."

Foggy appeared with another skinny blonde and his phone pressed hard against his ear.

"Is it a trap?" Jessica asked, scanning the room again.

The bartender, a smiley blonde with sharp eyes slid a set of drinks over to them. "I like the way you think. There he is, we had to check if his date was wearing a ring before we let her in."

"What - " Luke started but the woman's face was familiar - subtract the smile and change the hair - 

"What gets us on the Avenger's radar?" Jessica cut him off, challenging Black Widow.

"That asshole in the corner," she replied with a wink. "Do everybody a solid and make sure Foggy goes to him first, he'll be fucking useless until they hug it out."

Her heart stuttered when she took in the slumped guy with a hoodie pulled over a baseball cap. "That beard will look ridiculous with his mask," she said. The guy didn't raise his head but flipped up his middle finger.

"He made it," Luke whispered.

"Not a ninja zombie?" Jessica hesitated.

"He was pretty pissed off when we shoved him into a high-tech medical chamber for emergency surgery but the nuns we stole him from had him stabilized. I'd make a Lazarus joke but I'm not allowed to blaspheme where he can hear me," Natasha said. "Anybody in the bar you don't know is one of mine."

"Is Murdock one of yours?" Luke asked.

"It's safest for now, plus we have fun when he's not moping about ex-girlfriends or buildings falling on him," she said. "Have some drinks, watch the show and try to feel better about saving the world for a little while."

The show turned out to be Nelson dropping his phone in his girl's purse and storming across the bar to the Matt's table with the other blonde scrambling to catch up.

She and Luke reached for their drinks. She was definitely sticking around to get the story from the source.

* * *

"Okay, so I'm really - seriously - fucking elated that you're not dead but I'm having a hard time processing the rest of it. You want us to go along with the funeral when your shiny new spy-friend arranges the death certificate so you can run off and play superhero?" Foggy asked, clinging to his beer with both hands.

"You can't just - leave with her. You don't even know her!" Karen hissed with a wary glance toward the bar where Marci, Jess and Danny were harassing Natasha to her great amusement. She was toying with them but at least two of them were aware of it.

"She's right, I mean, what are you thinking, buddy?" Foggy whispered, shaking his head.

"I - do know her. I met her years ago, in grad school," Matt admitted. "And there's - nothing in my life right now that I can't walk away from. I'm broke, I don't have any active cases and my identity's - the only reason it hasn't leaked is because of Nat and her friends."

"So she's blackmailing you?" Karen hissed.

"No, she's offering me - a chance to heal and hide. To learn how to - balance all of this. I - would be dead if she hadn't looked for me."

They both flinched and he regretted his phrasing. "That's not - "

"Matt, just because your life's a little - bumpy right now doesn't mean you have to give up on Matt Murdock for Daredevil. That's insane, you know?"

He took a deep breath and placed both hands on the table. "Elektra dropped my name on camera in a room full of Hand bosses. She killed most, but not all of them - but - "

"You think she'll come for you?" Karen asked.

"No, but the Hand might. Nat's convinced they will so - let 'em come for Daredevil, but take Matt Murdock off the board." He raised his hand and Foggy's heart skipped when he saw the familiar tremor.

"We're listening," Foggy said, covering his hand and lowering it back to the table but his point was made.

"The Hand knows who I am. So does Fisk," Matt said. "I've been told by three separate psychiatrists that I'm clinically depressed and need to limit emotional stressors - or something to that effect - "

"I guess going out with the Avengers to punch aliens would be like a vacation to your impulsive ignorant fucking ass," Foggy snapped, yanking him into a hug he didn't expect but didn't dare pull away from. "You saw a shrink?"

"I'm not okay, Fogs. What happened at Midland Circle, what the Hand did to Elektra, what she did to Stick - I'm not okay and - I'm tired of people I care about being hurt because I'm an 'impulsive ignorant fucking ass'," Matt said. "You and Karen are safe and I'm going to suck up to the new guys and see if they can help me with the rest until - until I'm okay enough to come back and not get killed."

"How do we know she won't get you killed?" Karen asked.

"I'm not running away with the Black Widow, I'm spending time with my friend, Natalia," Matt replied.

Foggy flinched. "Oh wow, I remember her - shit, you have known her a while. Did you know who she was?"

"We didn't talk about it, but I knew," Matt said, swiping at his cheeks when Foggy released him. "I had no idea she would come for me, that she was paying any attention, but - "

"Maybe she can help you more than we can right now - but that doesn't mean you have to sign on with a government-controlled hit squad," Karen said.

"She doesn't work on that squad anymore," Matt replied but they didn't laugh at his joke.

"Matt, are you absolutely sure - "

"She's got a copy of the contract for you to look over, but, yeah. It's a good plan, Fogs."

"You won't disappear again, will you? We can call and keep in touch?" Foggy asked.

"I think Marci's wrangling herself an invitation to Pepper and Nat's book club, but - I really need you to go back to your lives and keep your ears and eyes open for anybody sniffing around about me. We all know Fisk will take any opening he can get and anybody else that makes the connection - "

"We've always got your back, Matt, whether we're on speaking terms or not," Karen huffed.

"What she said," Foggy sighed.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyric tag belongs to My Chemical Romance.
> 
> *I will revisit this at some point, I want Matt to train with all the Avengers and have strategy meetings with the Defenders and everybody hangs out together and nothing hurts.*


End file.
